Ooh, it's time for another edition of Foot Fetish, where-in I inflict my questionably loud taste in special occasion footwear uponst my willing offbeat victims!

This week, I'm focusing on veggie-friendly heels. From as best as I can tell, all these shoes are all made with non-animal products — most of them are rubber, synthetic, or satin uppers with man-made soles and insoles. The advantage of man-made materials? Yes they're nicer to our animal friends, but they're often also cheaper than leather. The disadvantage? Sometimes quality ain't forever-wear awesome — but that's the joy of wedding shoes: hopefully you only need to wear 'em once!

So, without further ado, let's dive into some crazy/fabulous cruelty-free wedding footwear. As always, click on the shoe picture to view more information, as you imagine these fabulous-but-animal-friendly beauties peeking out from under the hem of your wedding dress:

Continue reading "Veggie wedding heels for daring-but-cruelty-free brides" →

Photo Pink is a duo of NYC-based wedding photographers who live to capture the honest and authentic moments of a wedding — not the "you stand here, they stand here" stiff portraits. As they say, "You want to spend your wedding day with your friends and family, not with your photographers (no matter how cool we may be."

And oh, they are cool. Since both Liesl and Randy are vegetarian, they specialize in animal-friendly wedding albums — including gorgeous linen, metal, pleather, and hardcover books. If you want a leather wedding album, they can get you in touch with someone … but I really appreciate how they've integrated their values into their business.

To see more of Photo Pink work (and read all about the special offer they've got for Offbeat Brides) keep reading! Oh and clicky the photos to learn more…

Continue reading "Veggie-friendly wedding photography (+ free engagement sessions!) from Photo Pink" →

A very special thanks to @LaurenCrane for tweeting about this amazing vegan wedding that manages to be both a little punk and a lot classy:

The bride (coincidentally also named Ariel — no relation!) explains that "we tried to have as classy a wedding as two scruffy punks can manage."

(photos by Andrew Kercher)

For the full scoop, head on over the The Storque, or watch the Flickr slideshow below. And thanks again, Lauren!

Continue reading "Punk-but-classy vegan wedding, as seen on Etsy Storque!" →

The Offbeat Bride: Stephanie, sustainability nerd

Her Offbeat Partner: Davyd, engineer

Location & date of wedding: BFF's parents' backyard, Caversham, Western Australia — April 5th, 2008

What made our wedding offbeat: I'm a mostly-Chinese Australian, and Davyd's a somewhat-English Australian, and we're both vegans. We wanted our wedding to reflect who we are and where we came from (to be a fusion wedding, if you will), but also to be fun and memorable. We played cricket and croquet straight after-wards, and banned black and white colours from our guests whilst trying to get them to wear hats and fascinators. In the weeks before, all planning was referred to as prep for the 'really big party,' and that's what it was!

Continue reading "Stephanie & Davyd's Really Big Vegan Party" →

Welcome to OMGOBT, a new category of posts on Offbeat Bride that feature some of the most inspiring, most helpful, and most awesome posts from the OBT. This first installment involves love and cat vomit, and is by OBT user Cassie.

So the other day I was looking at my cat. More specifically, I was looking at my cat as she spewed what seemed like a quarter pound of half-digested tuna/chicken feast all over one of my favorite sweaters, which I stupidly left unsupervised on the bed. And I thought, "Sweet lord above this cat is driving me crazy, what with all the puking and crapping lately, but I love her to bits and wouldn't give her up for anything."

And here is where the most pathetic realization came over me: My relationship with my future husband is like my relationship to the cat …

Continue reading "How my cat taught me marriage isn't so scary after all, by Cassie" →